Black Hair Products

Please check out the followings to learn more about Black Hair Products.

Brand Spotlight: Keratin Complex by Coppola

January 5th, 2011 . No Comments »

Keratin hair treatments have caught on like wildfire. Women rave about having smooth hair without the hefty price tag of permanent hair damage, and Keratin Complex by Coppola is one brand that leads the pack in this breakthrough hair treatment. The ability to choose between frizz free natural curls and straight hair is a breakthrough in the hair care game. The Smoothing Treatment is a salon treatment that should be applied by a professional. While many salon keratin treatments contain small amounts of formaldehyde, Keratin Complex Smoothing Treatment does NOT. The results can last from 3 to a whopping 6 to 8 months, and will gradually fade from the hair without creating demarcation between new growth and treated hair.

It was founded by Peter Coppola, a renowned professional stylist, and the line features many wonderful hair care products. There are a couple of standouts designed to aid the longevity of the salon treatment. They contain high amounts of keratin, and some women find that they work so well, they are able to achieve the texture they want at home.

Keratin Complex Intense Rx is a high protein, ionic restructuring serum that is packed with more than 25% pure keratin. Smooth this into the hair prior to blow out for remarkable improvement in the elasticity and strength of the hair. It is not loaded with silicones that weigh the hair down – there are only two lightweight “cones”. Leave the serum in for 15 minutes, preferably with heat from a hooded dryer or Hair Therapy Wrap, and then style.

Keratin Complex Infusion Keratin Replenisher is designed to extend the life of the salon treatment. It infuses keratin proteins and emollients into the hair, and seals the cuticle with the heat of the blow dryer. It can be used alone or with Intense Rx.

Posted in Beauty, Beauty Brands, Beauty Product Reviews, Beauty Products, Beauty Tips, Best Hair Products, Black Hair Products, Coppola, Damaged Hair Products, Dry Hair Products, Frizzy Hair Products, Hair Products, Hair Products For Curly Hair, Hair Therapy Wrap, Keratin Complex by Coppola, Keratin Hair Products, Natural Black Hair Products, Straight Hair Products

Double Duty Beauty

January 4th, 2011 . No Comments »

Your beauty basket runneth over. Some of that stuff you bought because you needed it (or at least you really thought so). Some of it wooed you with great advertising. Some of it was just too gosh darn cute.

The good news is, many products are a lot more than just a one trick pony. They morph into a multi-use affair with the addition of common ingredients found around the house, or even as they are.

Conditioner

A good daily use conditioner is a necessary staple, especially for those who need to wash their hair often. It has to get the job done without being too heavy or creating build up. Paul Mitchell’s The Conditioner is an excellent buy that has stood the test of time. It was part of the original three products that launched the line back in the 80′s and it still garners praise from the industry.

Double Duty: If your hair tends to be dry, or if you are a curly, you could really stand to skip the shampoo step all together and do a conditioner-only wash. These products have enough mild surfactants to cleanse without the stripping and tangling. For a clarifying wash, add a bit of baking soda to your conditioner. This will help get rid of any product build up and freshen the scalp.

Get this – you can also use conditioner in place of shaving cream!

Mild Facial Cleansers

A gentle, emollient, water soluble (easily rinsed) cleanser is a good idea for all skin types. Even if you have oily skin, deep cleansing products aren’t necessary every time you wash your face. You want to retain moisture balance without stripping the skin. At night, when you want to remove your makeup and get rid of impurities from the day, Dermalogica UltraCalming Cleanser is a gel-cream that will sooth the skin and effectively remove cosmetic products and dirt.

Double Duty: A mixture of equal parts baking soda and gentle cleanser make a great exfoliating scrub. As you age, the skin does not slough away dead cells on its own as easily as younger skin. Exfoliating boosts cell turnover, gets rid of flaking skin, and leaves you with a healthy glow.

Moisture-Rich Conditioners

Especially if you are coarse or curly, your hair constantly craves moisture. Thick, rich conditioners are needed to tame your tresses and keep things manageable. Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Conditioner reconstructs the hair with keratin and argan oil. ISH Rescue Ionic Conditioner is an awesome detangler and protects the hair from heat styling.

Double Duty: Turn your conditioner into a luxury hair treatment with hot oil. Take a spoonful each of olive oil and castor oil. Castor oil is an excellent humectant and it’s also great for sealing the hair cuticle. You can also use your other favorite oils like jojoba oil and coconut oil. Heat them in the microwave for 30 seconds and mix them into 1/4 cup of conditioner. Apply to the hair and let it sit for about 10 minutes. It will work best with heat, and Hair Therapy Wrap will keep your hair warm for up to 30 minutes. Your hair will be super hydrated and the oils will give your hair a lovely sheen.

Posted in African American Hair Products, Beauty, Beauty Brands, Beauty Products, Beauty Tips, Black Hair Products, Damaged Hair Products, Dermalogica, Dry Hair Products, Frizzy Hair Products, Hair Products, Hair Products For Curly Hair, Hair Therapy Wrap, ISH Rescue, Keratin Hair Products, Moroccanoil, Paul Mitchell, Salon Hair Products, Skin Care

The 411 On At-Home Straightening Treatments

December 15th, 2010 . No Comments »

You’ve gotten the 411 on Professional Hair Straightening Treatments. For many women that’s the way to go. Hey – you’re a busy lady, you want what you want when it comes to your hair, and all that study and research on better hair care is best left to people who get paid for it.

But for many women, enslavement to expensive salon regimens is not something they want in their life. You are tired of always paying to have your hair look good, and you are ready to take back your hair. Perhaps you are one of the many women who have abused your hair with store-bought relaxer kits, and you know good and well that your hair is brittle and unhealthy as a result. Does your hair pass the strand test? Pull a strand and stretch it. If it quickly snaps, the answer is NO.

No matter what your hair type, there are three keys to healthy straight hair that is shiny and has body and movement. They are:

Moisture, conditioning, and a smooth hair cuticle
A skillful blowout with an ionic hair dryer
Sealing the cuticle tightly

Many women could achieve the straight hair they want with a minimum of products but don’t know it, because they are neglecting to address one or more of these key elements. Many women layer one bad hair habit on top of another and ruin their hair because they don’t understand their hair (or their products) and are guessing instead of educating themselves on proper care. Lets try to break the cycle of bad DIY relaxers, frying with heat, and hair that may be straight, but – let’s be honest – doesn’t really look good AT ALL.

#1 – Moisture, Conditioning, and a Smooth Hair Cuticle

If you were running a race, would you run BEHIND the finish line and then try to catch up later? Many women’s approach to hair care is just that senseless. Somewhere we were taught that lather=clean. We scrub and scrub our hair until we get that lather! Well… now we can’t comb it so we need two or three applications of conditioner and a jar of hair grease. Lo and behold, the grease makes our hair greasy and limp. We are convinced that we need a touch-up on our relaxer. It never occurs to many of us that if a product leaves our hair tangled and breaking off, then it is NOT GOOD for our hair.

Break the shampoo habit. All that shampooing roughs up the hair cuticle and raises it, thus making it much harder to straighten. Occasional clarifying is fine to get rid of build up, but you can be gentle and your hair will be healthier. Look for a sulfate-free cleanser that will not strip your hair of the natural oils it needs.

#2 – A Skillful Blowout With an Ionic Hair Dryer

It’s been discussed at length and in detail on this blog, but in case you missed it…

The Great Straight – It’s All About the Blow Out

The Great Straight – It’s All About the Blow Out (Part 2)

#3 – Sealing the Cuticle Tightly

This is why keratin hair products are all the rage. Coarse and curly hair tends to be very porous, and that is THE major difference from straighter hair types. Keratin hair products really fill in those holes! Silicone based products are also a major help, even though many people don’t like the buildup that they can create – moderate use is key. Silicone based products provide a protective coating that repels humidity and keeps the cuticle from swelling. After all that work getting the cuticle smooth, the last thing you want is swelling!

This step is crucial to the longevity of your style. It keeps you from running back to your flat iron and abusing this wonderful tool. Ceramic flat irons actually help with this, because they are ionic and help to neutralize the hair.

FHI Heat Platform Series Flat Iron 1″ & FHI Heat Carbon Based Comb

There is no magic bullet product for effortless self-styled hair that looks like you just stepped out of the salon. If you slap some expensive product on dry, brittle hair that is not well conditioned, and follow this with faulty styling, don’t expect a miracle. However!

Some products will really help you achieve optimum style. Straightening balms can be a great help for hair that is less coarse. One product that’s gotten great reviews is Liquid Keratin. This breakthrough product is an answer to those expensive salon keratin treatments. They recently came out with Liquid Keratin Bold for Dark Hair, but many women with African American hair have used the original formula with great results.

Liquid Keratin 30 Day Straight and Smooth

Keratin Complex by Coppola Intense Rx is another great product. The Coppola salon treatment is a very popular version of the Brazilian Keratin Treatment, and this product is meant for at-home use to extend the life of that treatment. It is deep penetrating and infuses Keratin into the hair. It is 25% pure keratin and only contains a couple of very lightweight silicones. Many women use it as a DIY substitute for what you would get at the salon.

You can also try silicone-based serums. Two serums that work really well are Moroccanoil and Alterna Caviar Polishing Serum.

Moroccanoil

Alterna Caviar Polishing Serum

Posted in African American Hair Products, Alterna, Beauty, Beauty Brands, Beauty Products, Beauty Tips, Black Hair Products, DevaCurl, FHI Heat, Frizzy Hair Products, Hair Products, Hair Products For Curly Hair, Keratin Complex by Coppola, Keratin Hair Products, Moroccanoil, Straight Hair Products

The 411 on Professional Hair Straightening Treatments

December 7th, 2010 . 2 Comments »

Once upon a time we had relaxers. They were for Black women, as most non-ethnic hair types could not withstand the harsh chemical treatment. Well… as it turns out, most Black hair cannot withstand the treatment either. Over time, and with abuse, the relaxers have caused scalp burns, hair loss, and more for many women. But, Black women were not the only ones who wanted the straight hair that genetics had not given them. Coarse, curly, and otherwise non-straight hair affects all ethnicities. A new solution was necessary.

Enter Japanese Thermal Straightening and Brazilian Keratin Treatments. Heck, there are so many straightening treatments out there that trying to keep them all straight (pardon the pun) is dizzying. What IS a BKT? What IS a Brazilian Blowout? Who and what hair types can get them? Which treatments are safe to do at home? One Google search just leads to another and another and now you just want an asprin and a nap.

When you approach a hair stylist to discuss these treatments, you want to be as savvy and knowledgeable as possible, so let’s try to demystify the terms and sort it all out.

Brazilian Keratin Treatments

This is the “BKT”. Well, how is that different from a Brazilian Blowout? What makes it all so confusing is that some of these terms are brand names being used to define a genre of hair care products that basically do the same thing. Here are some characteristics they (mostly) all share in common.

They use Keratin to fill in the hair. Coarse and curly hair tends to be porous, and Keratin fills in the “holes” and seals the cuticle, keeping moisture in hair that is typically dry and repelling humidity.
They don’t break down and destroy the chemical makeup of the hair. Hair retains it’s natural pattern, but the cuticle becomes smoother and is surrounded by protective protein. There is little or no demarcation between new growth and treated hair. The treatment wears off and hair returns to its natural state. Hair can be worn wavy or straight.
Treatment lasts about 12 weeks/ 3 months.
It DOES contain chemicals like formaldehyde, but in small amounts and far less damaging than those in relaxers.
Treatments start around $150 but can run around $300.
The treatments only take a couple of hours.
The treatment works great on all hair types – it actually works BETTER on chemically treated hair because that hair is more porous!

Common brands of this treatment are Global Keratin, Brazilian Blowout, Brazilian Keratin Treatment by Marcia Teixeira, and Keratin Complex by Coppola.

Women rave about the effectiveness of this treatment. They love that they can wear the hair straight or let it air dry into frizz-free waves. Hair has more life and body without the frizz factor, and your hair is not enslaved to the treatment – just let it wear off and you will be no worse that where you started. Sulfate free and sodium chloride free shampoos are critical to the longevity of your application. If you opt for this treatment you must adjust your shampoo routine, or you will strip the hair and literally wash your results down the drain!

The hair industry is catching on to the benefits of sulfate free cleansing. There are some great options that will leave your hair super hydrated and tangle-free. Check out a few of these possibilities!

Alterna Caviar Moisture Shampoo

A sulfate-free cleanser that attracts, retains and rebalances moisture while it protects color and improves the overall performace of tired, brittle hair. With real caviar extract! It’s a very good balance of rich moisture without weighing down the hair.

DevaCurl No-Poo

The Deva line is specially designed for curly hair types, and No-Poo delivers a gentle but effective, non-lathering cleansing.

Japanese Thermal Straightening

Also called Japanese Thermal Reconditioning, it is pioneered and branded by Yuko Systems. This treatment is permanent, it is chemical-based, and it is not recommended for ethnic hair with very tight coily and kinky patterns (ignore this warning at your own risk).

Stylists who are authorized to perform this treatment go through rigorous training exclusively from Yuko in Los Angeles, hence the reason why most certified stylists are concentrated in the West Coast Area. It is a very complex system that involves at least two chemical applications and two flat ironings, and can take anywhere from three to six hours. It uses a chemical mix that is less harsh than traditional relaxers and special high-heat irons. It ballparks in the range of $500. Fans of the process say it is well worth the cost and has delivered them from hours of wrangling with flat irons. It lasts a whopping SIX months without retouching! This in depth article gives a full explanation. The system is based on using heat oxidation to rebuild the hair, and there are a few brand names that offer similar systems: CHI Transformation System (explained here), Liscio Hair Re-Bonding, and Bio-Ionic Straighteners, to name a few.

For the Yuko treatment, it is highly recommended that the products designed for upkeep by Yuko are used to maintain the hair.

Yuko Lock In Color Shampoo/ Treatment for Color-Treated Hair